Fact Sheet

July 2010

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts regular five-year checkups, called five-year reviews, on Superfund sites where cleanups have been completed. These regular five-year reviews are required by the Superfund law [42 U.S.C. Section 9621 (c)] to make sure the site remains safe and the cleanup actions continue to protect public health and the environment. EPA has completed the fourth five-year review for this site.

EPA's first five-year review of the Lawrence Todtz Farm site was completed in September 1995. The second five-year review was completed in September 2000. The third five-year review was completed in September 2005. All three reviews concluded the remedy continued to be protective.

Site Background

The Lawrence Todtz Farm Site is located one mile west of Camanche, Iowa. This site is a former gravel pit of approximately 12 acres and was a municipal landfill between 1969 and 1975. During that time, a variety of municipal, commercial, and industrial wastes were reportedly disposed of at the site. DuPont constructed a 2.7 acre impoundment in the northwest corner of the site to dispose of waste from their cellophane manufacturing plant.

EPA directed DuPont to conduct a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study for the site. Based on the results of the investigation, EPA signed a Record of Decision (ROD) in 1988 and selected the remedy to clean up the site.

The selected remedy consisted of installation of a two-foot-thick soil cover over the impoundment, development of vegetation on the cover, installation of a private well in the deeper bedrock aquifer, installation of additional downgradient monitoring wells, and a long-term monitoring program.

DuPont, under a Consent Decree with EPA, conducted the Remedial Design/Remedial Action which implemented the selected remedy. The
soil cover, fence, installation of a private well in the deeper bedrock aquifer, and installation of additional monitoring wells were completed in 1991. Semiannual groundwater sampling of the shallow aquifer was conducted until 1997 and is now conducted on an annual basis. Sampling of the bedrock aquifer was conducted on a semiannual basis for the first two years and was required to be conducted every five years thereafter. At EPA's request, DuPont has been conducting annual monitoring of the bedrock aquifer. All monitoring has been conducted since 1991 by DuPont with EPA oversight.

The Fourth Five-Year Review

The five-year review process includes:

the review and analysis of existing monitoring and operational data,

the review of site information, and

the inspection of the site to visually confirm and document the condition of the remedy.

EPA conducted an inspection of the site on October 13, 2009. Current site information was reviewed by EPA and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The conclusion of this five year review is that the site remedy is currently protective of human health and the environment.

However, these additional actions need to be taken to ensure long-term protectiveness of the site:

annual surface water and sediment sampling of adjacent water bodies,

annual monitoring of the bedrock aquifer wells,

ensuring that downgradient residents connect to the city of Camanche water supply, and

ensuring that vines and saplings be removed from the eastern side of the fence as necessary.

The final report, dated June 22, 2010, was prepared and is available at the site information repositories and on the EPA Region 7 website at